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Lesley Lokko was our Guest Editor in April 2011 - click here - to see the books that inspired her writing.
Lesley Lokko’s most recent novel, One Secret Summer, has just been released in paperback and her next, A Private Affair, is due out this summer. After spending seven years training to be an architect, she promptly threw in the towel and began writing fiction instead. Lesley now splits her time between London, Accra and Johannesburg, with the odd winter spent writing in cottage just outside Edinburgh. Her Scottish friends think she’s mad.
Lexi Sturgis is a woman in a man's world, a war correspondent whose life has taken her to some of the world's most troubled regions. Lexi is never happier than when she's dodging bullets, chasing down the leads that other reporters only dream of getting, or swapping stories with her rivals at the bar. She thrives on risk, danger and the thrill of the chase, while keeping everyone else at arm's length - colleagues, friends and lovers. TV executive Jane Marshall needs a Big Idea. With her career nose-diving and her colleagues circling for her job, she needs to pull something major out of the hat. And Lexi might just be what she needs. When a young British woman is kidnapped in Egypt, both Lexi and Jane are thrown together on a journey which will change their lives entirely. It will take them into a world where no one is quite what they seem and menace lurks in every corner. Sometimes, when your back's against the wall, the only thing to do is trust in the person closest to you...
April 2013 Book of the Month. Glamour, fashion, power, hidden secrets from the past… it’s all here in this 7th exciting and engaging family drama from architect turned author Lesley Lokko - dubbed ‘Brainy Blockbusters’ by her publisher. A reclusive top designer is forced to face up to her past when her exclusive New Year's Eve party, on her Caribbean hideaway, is ‘crashed’ by a woman she had tried her whole life to forget.
June 2012 eBook of the Month. Glamour, fashion, power, hidden secrets from the past… it’s all here in this 7th exciting and engaging family drama from architect turned author Lesley Lokko.
A Private Affair is the new spellbinding tale of love and friendship, glamour and guilt, secrets and deceit from bestselling author Lesley Lokko.
A Private Affair is the new spellbinding tale of love and friendship, glamour and guilt, secrets and deceit from bestselling author Lesley Lokko.
April 2011 Book of the Month. A thoroughly enjoyable, indulgent and escapist read. A ‘seemingly perfect’ family with three sons, nicknamed ‘the heavenly creatures’ whose lives are torn apart after a long hidden secret emerges.
Dubbed a ‘brainy blockbuster’ by the publishers this is a good meaty yarn about four friends from 1981 onwards. It’s got all the right ingredients – glamour, intrigue, heartache, loss and tragedy - you name it and it’s got it. The Lace of today, cracking stuff.
Shortlisted for the RNA People’s Choice Award 2010. Follow Nic, Caryn and Tory as their friendships are tested, their love lives get complicated and power, revenge and money all play their part in the this blockbuster of a book. Pure entertainment for a rainy afternoon. A personal message from Lelsey Lokko... Dear LoveReading Readers (if that’s what I call you!),I’ve never been nominated for anything in my entire life so this is a real surprise and I’m absolutely thrilled to be on the shortlist. Although I feel as though I’ve been writing for decades, I’m still at the beginning of my career so something like this really is a Very Big Deal indeed. Thank you again and again for the nomination . . . and for your vote should you decide to give it to me!With warmest best wishes (from a decidedly un-summery Jo’burg)Lesley
Three girls in search of a missing piece of their lives; three girls who will change their worlds to find it ...
Half-sisters struggle not to repeat the mistake their mothers made, sharing the same man. This is the second novel from an author well worth trying if you enjoy blockbusters, Desperate Housewives and good old-fashioned story telling. This title is also available as an Audiobook in CD format. Comparison: Judith Krantz, Shirley Conran, Tilly Bagshawe. Similar this month: Louise Bagshawe, Daisy Jordan.
A captivating family drama about sisters and long-held secrets spanning from the 1930s to the present day, perfect for fans of Downton Abbey. 1936, Chalfont Hall, Dorset. As the dressmaker puts the last pins in her dress, thirteen-year-old Kit is wondering why she has to go through the charade of seeing her sister Lily presented at Court. With her waves of auburn hair and her piercing green eyes, Kit knows that her sister's place on the social scene is guaranteed regardless of her dress, and as the door to a life of parties and eligible young men opens for Lily, Kit must make do with tiptoeing around the gallery of Chalfont, eavesdropping on the conversations of the grown-ups. But the arrival of a German visitor one evening soon sets in motion a chain of events that none of the family could have anticipated. Years later, the aftershock of events will be felt by a new generation . . .
A captivating family drama about sisters and long-held secrets spanning from the 1930s to the present day, perfect for fans of Downton Abbey. 1936, Chalfont Hall, Dorset, and as the dressmaker puts the last pins in her dress, thirteen-year-old Kit is wondering why she has to go through the charade of seeing her sister Lily presented at Court. With her waves of auburn hair and her piercing green eyes, Kit knows that her sister's place on the social scene is guaranteed regardless of her dress, and as the door to a life of parties and eligible young men opens for Lily, Kit must make do with tiptoeing around the gallery of Chalfont, eavesdropping on the conversations of the grown-ups. But the arrival one evening of a distinctly German visitor soon sets in motion a chain of events that none of the family could have anticipated. Years later, the aftershock of events will be felt by a new generation . . .
The portfolio is the single most important part of every architectural student's education. This book proides a complete guide to preparing, compiling and presenting this crucial element of the architecture course. The experienced author team gives practical advice for the creation of the portfolio covering issues of size, storage, layout and order. They go on to guide the student through the various forms a portfolio can take: the Electronic Portfolio, the Academic Portfolio and the Professional Portfolio suggesting different approaches and different media to use in order to create the strongest portfolio possible. The team also presents the best examples from international student portfolios to show the reader their recommendations in practice. The book has a companion website where full colour representations of the best examples of portfolio work can be accessed. Also in the Seriously Useful Guides series: * The Dissertation * The Crit * Practical Experience
Full of danger, secrets and lies, the dazzling novel from bestselling author, Lesley Lokko. Nothing fazes Lexi Sturgis. She's faced bullets, battles and bitter rivals to chase news stories other reporters would kill for. Living for risk and adventure, she abides by one rule: don't let anyone get too close. Jane Marshall is feeling desperate. Her family is in disarray and her once high-flying TV career is sinking. She needs a big scoop, fast - and it seems Lexi might be the one to help. For dedicated medical student Deena, the horrors of a war-torn Egypt are too shocking to ignore. She travels across the world to offer help, leaving her younger sister shattered with worry. In a journey fraught with danger, secrets and uncertainty, these women are thrown together in an extraordinary struggle. Can they overcome the pains of their pasts and find the courage to trust each other?
In a beachfront mansion in Martha's Vineyard, Annick and Rebecca relax, safe in the knowledge that their young children are in the care of life-long friend Tash. But by the end of the afternoon, one of the children will have vanished...Annick, daughter of an actress and an assassinated president, has spent her life running from the truth of her family's wealth. Rebecca has always done the right thing. Perfect daughter. Perfect wife. Perfect mother. She's beginning to wonder if she'll ever get chance to live for herself. And Tash, free from the poverty of her heritage, has the world at her feet. So why is she struggling to keep a grip on her life? This is the sweeping story of three very different women; their pasts, their secrets, and their friendship.
Five stories of secrets, love and friendship from the bestselling author of A PRIVATE AFFAIR.Comprises: SUNDOWNERSSAFFRON SKIESBITTER CHOCOLATERICH GIRL, POOR GIRLONE SECRET SUMMER.
April 2013 Book of the Month. Glamour, fashion, power, hidden secrets from the past… it’s all here in this 7th exciting and engaging family drama from architect turned author Lesley Lokko - dubbed ‘Brainy Blockbusters’ by her publisher. A reclusive top designer is forced to face up to her past when her exclusive New Year's Eve party, on her Caribbean hideaway, is ‘crashed’ by a woman she had tried her whole life to forget.
Known as 'The Ice Queen', Anneliese Zander de St Phalle is one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers. With an empire that stretches across continents, she's a truly global brand, in every sense. Yet despite her success, she's a mystery; a reclusive disciplined perfectionist who rarely grants interviews. She's successful and she's talented, and that's all anyone needs to know. Anneliese never talks about her past - not even to her only daughter, Callan. She's worked hard to leave it all behind her and it's a time and place to which Anneliese will never return. Or so she thinks. Until, at an exclusive New Year's Eve party at her glamorous island hideaway, a woman appears whom Anneliese has done her best to forget. On the cusp of her retirement, at the height of Anneliese's fame, the stranger brings a story that demands to be told. To Anneliese's horror, the past cannot be left behind; it is here, part and parcel of the present, despite everything she's done to forget it . . .
A Private Affair is the new spellbinding tale of love and friendship, glamour and guilt, secrets and deceit from bestselling author Lesley Lokko.
Dubbed a ‘brainy blockbuster’ by the publishers this is a good meaty yarn about four friends from 1981 onwards. It’s got all the right ingredients – glamour, intrigue, heartache, loss and tragedy - you name it and it’s got it. The Lace of today, cracking stuff.
April 2011 Book of the Month. A thoroughly enjoyable, indulgent and escapist read. A ‘seemingly perfect’ family with three sons, nicknamed ‘the heavenly creatures’ whose lives are torn apart after a long hidden secret emerges.
Shortlisted for the RNA People’s Choice Award 2010. Follow Nic, Caryn and Tory as their friendships are tested, their love lives get complicated and power, revenge and money all play their part in the this blockbuster of a book. Pure entertainment for a rainy afternoon. A personal message from Lelsey Lokko... Dear LoveReading Readers (if that’s what I call you!),I’ve never been nominated for anything in my entire life so this is a real surprise and I’m absolutely thrilled to be on the shortlist. Although I feel as though I’ve been writing for decades, I’m still at the beginning of my career so something like this really is a Very Big Deal indeed. Thank you again and again for the nomination . . . and for your vote should you decide to give it to me!With warmest best wishes (from a decidedly un-summery Jo’burg)Lesley
Three girls in search of a missing piece of their lives; three girls who will change their worlds to find it ...
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